Facebook revenue soared in 2009, sources say

Facebook is popular – and increasingly profitable. According to one new report, Facebook made $800 million in 2009 alone.

ByMatthew ShaerJune 19, 2010

Facebook has long been hesitant to disclose exact earnings. But two sources have told The New York Daily News that Facebook made up to $800 million last year.

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It's been a good couple years for Facebook, which has experienced major gains in membership – the site now has more than 400 million members – and in traffic. Many pundits predicted it would take Facebook a bit more time before it really began to cash in on that popularity.

But according to a new report, Facebook raked in $800 million in revenue in 2009, a number that well exceeds previous estimates.

On Friday, The New York Daily News quoted two anonymous sources at Facebook, both of whom said that "explosive" advertising growth had fueled 2009 revenue. The sources also said that Facebook was earning "a solid net profit, in the tens of millions of dollars last year."

Meanwhile, Facebook traffic is soaring. In June, Google announced that Facebook was the most popular site in the US. (Google didn't include itself on the list, but its traffic regularly exceeds that of Facebook.) Google reported that Facebook had 540 million unique visitors in April – some 35 percent of all Web users, universe-wide. Meanwhile, the popular social-networking site drew 570 billion page views.

It's not hard to do the math. 570 billion page views equals a lot of eyeballs – and a lot of real estate for advertisers. No wonder Facebook has begun to rake in the cash.